How to got and not go backward in time in quantum mechanics

CRISTIAN LÓPEZ

European Journal for Philosophy of Science

Springer

Lugar: Dordrecht; Año: 2019 vol. 9 p. 1 - 17

1879-4912

In this article I shall defend, against the conventional understanding of the matter, that two coherent and tenable approaches to time reversal can be suitably introduced in standard quantum mechanics: an orthodox approach that demands time reversal to be represented in terms of an anti-unitary and anti-linear time-reversal operator, and a heterodox approach that represents time reversal in terms of a unitary, linear time-reversal operator.The rationale shall be that the orthodox approach in quantum theories assumes arelationalist metaphysics of time, according to which time reversal is nothing but motion reversal. But, when one shifts gears and turn to a substantivalist metaphysics of time the heterodox approach to time reversal in quantum mechanics comes up in a more natural way.